Can imagine trying to sort a loan deal with McAnthony and Fry would be like pulling teeth one by one with no anaesthetic...good luck Gourlay and Tevreden on that one..your negotiating skills will be put to the ultimate test if this is the plan!!...

As per interview with Clement post match yesterday when asked about loan deals he said quote "We have got a couple of targets which we are working on but there's nothing for sure yet"...

It wouldn't be a loan deal but a "loan to buy". Not that we will get Maddison but expect a lot of deals now to involve clubs paying much larger loan fees with the player signing a permanent deal on 1st Jan.

I have a few questions regarding the business we've done this summer:Why did we sign Sam Walker when we have Jaakkola as back up already and several talented youth goalkeepes, increasing our wage bill even more when we already have a large wage bill since our squad is rammed full of average players?

Why has Southwood not gone out on loan? Andresson, Driscoll and Ward have gone out on loan but surely Southwood needs the minutes more considering he's older (than the first two) and arguably more promising. Maybe the right opportunity didn't come along at a higher level for him.

Why have we signed John O'Shea when we clearly needed a better centre back similar to Moore's quality? He's another player who's increased the wage bill unnecessarily. I'm not having the cliches of 'he's good to have in the dressing room', if we had recruited the right characters like we should have done, we won't need him. Now we have Moore and either McShane (who's getting slower) or Ilori (careless on the ball at times) to make a centre back pairing, a recipe for disaster right now.

I just think we needed a top quality striker to come in too, Baldock and McNulty are okay, but our centre forwards aren't exactly going to scare Championship defences every week. The budget could have had a factor in that, just hope Bodvarsson can step up to the plate like he did last night.

We have a squad rammed full of average players, Edwards, Bacuna, McShane, Blackett, O'Shea and Aluko (at this moment in time), could make an arguemnt for Ilori and Gunter being average. Some are constantly injured - McCleary, Harriott and Swift for example. All these players probably make our wage bill sky high, our recruitment in places has been so poor and I honestly feel sorry for our owners who backed the manager heavily last season, and have had their money wasted on poor players. There's also questions about some of the characters in the squad, Liam Kelly's attitude towards the possibility of relegation last season was very poor and complacent. I try and be optimistic, Baldock works very hard and I think he could be a good sigining, Yiadom also looks like a coup, Barrow was most certainly a steal, but some of our other business in the past few years has been so poor.

[quote="RoyalJones"We have a squad rammed full of average players, Edwards, Bacuna, McShane, Blackett, O'Shea and Aluko (at this moment in time), could make an arguemnt for Ilori and Gunter being average. Some are constantly injured - McCleary, Harriott and Swift for example. All these players probably make our wage bill sky high, our recruitment in places has been so poor and I honestly feel sorry for our owners who backed the manager heavily last season, and have had their money wasted on poor players. There's also questions about some of the characters in the squad, Liam Kelly's attitude towards the possibility of relegation last season was very poor and complacent. I try and be optimistic, Baldock works very hard and I think he could be a good sigining, Yiadom also looks like a coup, Barrow was most certainly a steal, but some of our other business in the past few years has been so poor.[/quote]

Most of those players you mentioned, I feel have a space in the squad for them. Last season must still be playing on the players mind - as it certainly still is for me. Clement does still needs to find his strongest team / formation. A few latiesh signings in Baldock and Sims has set that back a bitEdwards - who i thought was a decent signing at the time, has looked very lethargic getting about the pitch and probs belongs in L1 now.McCleary, all the injuries and surgery has taken its toll on him, maybe he needs to drop down a division and shine again - a bit like Mcanuff had done.

We were looking to buy Hemed last season but Brighton wanted 8m , beyond our reach. But it galls me to see him go to QPR on loan for the season when we get Baldock who did not even play one full match last season. Whereas Hemed was scoring goals in the premiership in the first half of the season.

Who do you think will score more goals this season between those two?

How could we let a quality striker like Hemed slip through our fingers?

Paul Cowin We were looking to buy Hemed last season but Brighton wanted 8m , beyond our reach. But it galls me to see him go to QPR on loan for the season when we get Baldock who did not even play one full match last season. Whereas Hemed was scoring goals in the premiership in the first half of the season.

Who do you think will score more goals this season between those two?

How could we let a quality striker like Hemed slip through our fingers?

RoyalJones Why did we sign Sam Walker when we have Jaakkola as back up already and several talented youth goalkeepers

Because Gourlay shares the same agent as Walker and has clearly struck up a deal to pocket some of the signing on the fee. The same can be said for the majority of players we have signed under his tenure.

The bloke is taking us all for a ride, and pocketing a fortune in the process.

RoyalJones Why did we sign Sam Walker when we have Jaakkola as back up already and several talented youth goalkeepers

Because Gourlay shares the same agent as Walker and has clearly struck up a deal to pocket some of the signing on the fee. The same can be said for the majority of players we have signed under his tenure.

The bloke is taking us all for a ride, and pocketing a fortune in the process.

RoyalJones Why did we sign Sam Walker when we have Jaakkola as back up already and several talented youth goalkeepers

Because Gourlay shares the same agent as Walker and has clearly struck up a deal to pocket some of the signing on the fee. The same can be said for the majority of players we have signed under his tenure.

The bloke is taking us all for a ride, and pocketing a fortune in the process.

There literally can't be any other explanation for it, such a pointless transfer.

RoyalJones Why did we sign Sam Walker when we have Jaakkola as back up already and several talented youth goalkeepers

Because Gourlay shares the same agent as Walker and has clearly struck up a deal to pocket some of the signing on the fee. The same can be said for the majority of players we have signed under his tenure.The bloke is taking us all for a ride, and pocketing a fortune in the process.

There literally can't be any other explanation for it, such a pointless transfer.

Yikes, hope Gourlay doesn't share the same agent as Aluko and O'Shea?

RoyalJones, I hear you. have to get our signings right, or even hit big, relative to other teams who, like us, can't just buy their way out of trouble.

Early doors, but Aluko looks better? Played well vs Derby, and vs Blackburn. One thing about Clement since his arrival is he's consistently started Aluko when available (Stam did too). His fee may be a factor, but we're going to have to accept the manager and coaches see stuff in him we don't. He has qualities in him, and which he brings to the team, that they value. Still have doubts, but hey, if he has a good season...'He will be like a new signing! '.

RoyalJones Why did we sign Sam Walker when we have Jaakkola as back up already and several talented youth goalkeepers

Because Gourlay shares the same agent as Walker and has clearly struck up a deal to pocket some of the signing on the fee. The same can be said for the majority of players we have signed under his tenure.

The bloke is taking us all for a ride, and pocketing a fortune in the process.

All true and he was also behind 9/11 and orchestrated the fake landing on the moon!

RoyalJones Why did we sign Sam Walker when we have Jaakkola as back up already and several talented youth goalkeepers

Because Gourlay shares the same agent as Walker and has clearly struck up a deal to pocket some of the signing on the fee. The same can be said for the majority of players we have signed under his tenure.

The bloke is taking us all for a ride, and pocketing a fortune in the process.

All true and he was also behind 9/11 and orchestrated the fake landing on the moon!

He was also the CEO of Union Carbide in the mid 80's and moonlighted as a Safety Officer at Chernobyl.

These tales of sharing agents is the same shit that was thrown at Tommy Burns, Brendan Rodgers and Jaap Stam.

WAZZOCK Because Gourlay shares the same agent as Walker and has clearly struck up a deal to pocket some of the signing on the fee. The same can be said for the majority of players we have signed under his tenure.The bloke is taking us all for a ride, and pocketing a fortune in the process.

There literally can't be any other explanation for it, such a pointless transfer.

Yikes, hope Gourlay doesn't share the same agent as Aluko and O'Shea? :shock:

RoyalJones, I hear you. have to get our signings right, or even hit big, relative to other teams who, like us, can't just buy their way out of trouble.

Early doors, but Aluko looks better? Played well vs Derby, and vs Blackburn. One thing about Clement since his arrival is he's consistently started Aluko when available (Stam did too). His fee may be a factor, but we're going to have to accept the manager and coaches see stuff in him we don't. He has qualities in him, and which he brings to the team, that they value. Still have doubts, but hey, if he has a good season...'He will be like a new signing! '.

WAZZOCK Because Gourlay shares the same agent as Walker and has clearly struck up a deal to pocket some of the signing on the fee. The same can be said for the majority of players we have signed under his tenure.The bloke is taking us all for a ride, and pocketing a fortune in the process.

There literally can't be any other explanation for it, such a pointless transfer.

Yikes, hope Gourlay doesn't share the same agent as Aluko and O'Shea?

RoyalJones, I hear you. have to get our signings right, or even hit big, relative to other teams who, like us, can't just buy their way out of trouble.

Early doors, but Aluko looks better? Played well vs Derby, and vs Blackburn. One thing about Clement since his arrival is he's consistently started Aluko when available (Stam did too). His fee may be a factor, but we're going to have to accept the manager and coaches see stuff in him we don't. He has qualities in him, and which he brings to the team, that they value. Still have doubts, but hey, if he has a good season...'He will be like a new signing! '.

Aluko has it in him and with him and Barrow on the wings, we could have really utilise that quality to our advantage like we did with McAnuff and Kebe in the promotion season. Meite is developing well, Harriott could be good if he ever gets back to fitness, I think McCleary's time at Reading is done after several long term injuries. Not sure we have many good wingers in the academy (Frost looks okay-ish) like we used to with Fosu and Stacey, but we still have quite good wingers with Popa still to come back as an addition.